Posts Tagged ‘korea’

When grocery chain Tesco wanted to expand their market share in South Korea, they came up with a brilliant idea: put a virtual store in the subway so busy consumers can buy stuff with their cell phones while they wait for the train.

Now, instead of relying on a brick-and-mortar storefront, businesses can just put life-size pictures of their wares in high-traffic public spaces. Sure, it doesn’t solve issues like rampant consumerism, wasteful food transport practices, or obesity, but it’s an interesting innovation nevertheless.

South Koreans were reportedly running military drills on the island of Yeonpyeong when the North Korean’s unleashed a barrage of artillery shells, in what many are calling the most serious clash since the end of the Korean war.

We can all hope that this event will remain isolated and no further escalations will ensue, but anything can happen.

See, that is the trouble with war, or rather, the war machine. There is an adage that says give a man a hammer, and pretty soon everything looks like a nail, and therein lies the problem with military budgets and defense spending. Soldiers and military personnel who are trained and armed can be too eager to use the power entrusted with them.

The same thing happens with riot police, who’ve been trained in crowd control and subduing dissenters, when they finally strap on their armor suits and get set free on groups of protesters. It can be almost instinctual, almost expected, that some of them will end up cracking open those pesky hippie skulls.

It can be far too easy for people trained to use force to find the slightest provocation to use said force. The more we invest into war, the more likely it becomes that someone will find a reason to unleash war upon others.

This is why it is so imperative that we stand up against more spending. We need to let our leaders know that we are sick of war, and that we want our nation’s defense and military budgets to be used for something productive.